Oriental-style breading crumbs, also referred to as Japanese-style breading crumbs and Panko-style breading crumbs, are characterized by an elongate shape having a coarse, splintered appearance. These breading crumbs are used to provide a tender texture and crispiness to a variety of fried food products, such as, seafoods, poultry and red meat, which is considered desirable.
These breading crumbs conventionally are formed by a procedure which involves a conventional proofed dough preparation followed by rapid baking using the electrical resistance of the dough as a means of heating. Bread flour, optionally in admixture with rice flour, is combined with water, salt and yeast, and optionally sugars and shortening, in proportions normally used in conventional bread making. The ingredients are mixed in a standard batch dough mixer for about 5 to 8 minutes and the dough batch so formed is transferred to a container for a bulk fermentation period of about 30 to 60 minutes.
The dough then is divided into five to seven pound portions and placed in rectangular wooden containers in which the longer dimension is vertical and approximately 18 inches with the horizontal surface being about 6 inches.times.10 inches in cross section. The two larger vertical faces of the container are covered with sheet metal, which acts as an electrical conductor.
The dough is allowed to proof in the containers for an hour, during which period the dough expands vertically. Baking is effected by passing an electrical current through the proofed dough for about 12 minutes, which further elongates the dough by expansion of the yeast-formed gas cells and formation of water vapour in the porous dough. The cooked dough is removed from the containers after a brief cooling period and allowed to fully cool, evaporate and stale overnight. The bread is then ground to the required mesh size and dried to the desired final moisture content.